As people become increasingly sedentary, obesity grows as a public health problem. Many people have difficulty preventing their caloric intake from exceeding their energy needs, and as a consequence grow progressively more obese over time. In addition to the psychic impact, obesity shortens lifespan by increasing the incidence of heart disease, diabetes, and possibly cancer. Consequently, individuals spend enormous sums on diets, exercise regimens, and prescription drugs in an attempt to lose weight and/or to maintain a lower weight.
Despite this effort, however, long-term success eludes most would-be dieters. All too many, even if they succeed temporarily in losing weight, return to their previous eating habits and regain the weight they lost. Such people need to modify their eating behavior so that once they succeed in losing weight they do not later regain it.
A similar challenge faces those attempting to quit smoking, drinking, or illicit drug use. In each case, the individual needs assistance in modifying his behavior so that, after an initial effort to quit, he does not slide back into the habits of many years and defeat the progress he has achieved. Attempts at such assistance have included hypnosis and the use of drugs such as disulfiram (commercially sold as Antabuse), which makes alcohol noxious to the user. Hypnosis is clearly impractical on an ongoing, daily basis, while use of drugs raises concerns about side effects and long-term toxicity.
Consequently, there is a continuing need for a way to facilitate modification of behavior so as to maximize the chances of long-term success in overcoming disorders involving consumption of food, drink, tobacco, or illicit drugs (hereafter, “consumption disorders”). Ideally such an approach would be as non-invasive as possible, and could be practiced by the patient herself when and for as long as necessary.